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PMRDF is the best platform to understand administration and its tryst with development

I applied for PMRDF position on the suggestion of one of my friends, who thought that the same is best answer to what I was looking out for. Before joining PMRDf, I had worked for SKS Microfinance Limited handling its operation and internal audit departments. This was followed by my stint in a Not for Profit organization based in Bhopal, wherein I was handling the microfinance operation of the organization. I still remember the GD & PI session for PMRDF which was held in Ranchi (Jharkhand), and which gave me the first glimpse of what was lying ahead in this programme for me. My GD batch was an exciting mix with participants from different sectors as diverse as Hotel management to those working as full time faculty. We had the first taste of what development is in the GD round itself when on different topics various ideas were coming up and we had to summarise and give coherency at the end. My interview questions mostly revolved around rural credit scenario in our country and I had a mix feeling of how I fared in it. The day results were declared, I left none of my phonebook friends and relatives untouched of what I was going to do. I was really very happy.

The training session at Hyderabad was one of the best engagement of my life, as it gave me a chance to listen to people like Dr. Hargopal who make you realise that what we see and what we perceive as to be true needs deeper questioning. The same followed with our district engagement – our first encounter with real life work wherein we were sent to our respective districts to create a new platform that never existed before. This platform was going to be unique as it will work very close with the system, but is not the part of system itself. I faced many challenges in letting people understand what the objective of having PMRDFs in IAP districts was. This exposure gave me a new learning; that if people see you daily they slowly start accepting you as one of them. My district got another PMRDF after two months, and from that time only we involved got involved in actual work. We adopted a panchayat and started teaching youths from this Panchayat, and we made it a point that we get these youths involved in whatsoever we do. I really had a great opportunity to learn working along with Aditya (PMRDF) who brought a new set of thinking on what could be our areas of inputs. Another fruitful engagement has been the chance to handle Jila Janshikayat Koshang (Public Grievance Cell of the district), which handled DM & CM Jantaa Darbaar and was in quite a bad shape. We are bringing automation to the Koshang with higher emphasis on transparency and efficiency by integrating the utility of IT with the earlier process that had been driven manually.

As a PMRDF, I am not satisfied with what I have achieved till now, and I think this is the beauty of this programme; it makes you thirsty and never allows you to quench your thirst, as there is so much to do and very less time left with all of us………….

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Shravan Kumar Jha is based at Jamui (Bihar). He is a graduate in Agriculture and an MBA (Agribusiness) from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune.